The Latin American revolutionary poet Roque Dalton's "Ars Poetica" is a poem of three lines--"Poetry/ Forgive me for ...

A Quick Note on Poetics || Azfar Hussain

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The Latin American revolutionary poet Roque Dalton's "Ars Poetica" is a poem of three lines--"Poetry/ Forgive me for having helped you understand/ You're not made of words alone." As Claire Gebeyli, a Lebanese writer, puts it: "Of what use is the pen if it forgets to press down on people's chests? If the words it pours forth are mere particles sewn and resewn on the body of language?" On a somewhat different register, the Black feminist poet Audre Lorde underlines the task of a poet as being one "to name the nameless so it can be thought." Dalton, Gebeyli, and Lorde--their differences notwithstanding--converge at least around the idea that poetry is more than "word-making," more than even a clever play of words.

Is poetry, then, a kind of world-making? The worlding of the word and the wording of the world? Isn't the poet an Orphic singer who brings things into being for the first time? Isn't poetry also the letting go of language itself? And another, somewhat different question: What can thinking learn from poetry? These questions are not merely Heideggerian questions, as some of those Heideggerians would love to have us believe. Such questions, among many others, were already prompted by Lalon Fakir's own lyrical theories of the body and language, although in different contexts. This morning I was looking at the following "song-text" by Lalon, one that doesn't itself specifically ask the questions I ask above but one that surely prompted those questions for me:

āĻĻেāĻšেāϰ āĻ–āĻŦāϰ āĻŦāϞি āĻļোāύ āϰে āĻŽāύ।
āĻĻেāĻšেāϰ āωāϤ্āϤāϰ āĻĻিāĻ•ে āφāĻ›ে āĻŦেāĻļি āĻĻāĻ•্āώিāĻŖেāϤে āφāĻ›ে āĻ•āĻŽ।।
āĻĻেāĻšেāϰ āĻ–āĻŦāϰ āύা āϜাāύিāϞে
āφāĻĒ্āϤāϤāϤ্āϤ্āĻŦ āĻ•িāϏে āĻŽেāϞে
āϞাāϞ āϜāϰāĻĻ āĻ›ি⧟া āĻ›āĻĢেāĻĻ
āĻŦাāĻšাāύ্āύ āĻŦাāϜাāϰ āĻāχ āϚাāϰিāĻ•োāĻŖ।।
āφāĻ—ে āĻ–ুঁāϜে āϧāϰ āϤাāϰে
āύাāϏিāĻ•াāϤে āϚāϞে āĻĢেāϰে
āύাāĻ­িāĻĒāĻĻ্āĻŽেāϰ āĻŽূāϞ āĻĻু⧟াāϰে
āĻŦāϏে āφāĻ›ে āϏāϰ্āĻŦāĻ•্āώāĻŖ।।
āφāĻ াāϰো āĻŽোāĻ•াāĻŽে āĻŽাāύুāώ
āϝে āύা āϜাāύে āϏেāĻšি āϤো āĻŦেāĻšুঁāĻļ
āϞাāϞāύ āĻŦāϞে āĻĨাāĻ•āϰে āĻšুঁāĻļ
āφāĻĻ্āϝ āĻŽোāĻ•াāĻŽে āϤাāϰ āφāϏāύ।।

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